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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25595578">Late Night Exploration</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/abraxos_is_toothless/pseuds/abraxos_is_toothless'>abraxos_is_toothless</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Learning Eachother and Learning to Love [8]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>All For The Game - Nora Sakavic</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Andrew Minyard Has Feelings, Domestic Fluff, I'm Bad At Tagging, Idiots in Love, M/M, Neil is flustered, Scar Stories, Soft Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard, hints at sex</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 05:41:16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,746</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25595578</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/abraxos_is_toothless/pseuds/abraxos_is_toothless</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Andrew and Neil have a little talk about how Neil got some of his scars. Andrew is very much in love and Neil gets incredibly flustered by Andrew's hands.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Learning Eachother and Learning to Love [8]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1772548</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>297</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I know this seems short but there will be a part two to this where the roles are reversed, instead of making this into a long fic!☺️🧡🤍</p><p>Please don’t for get that I write post The Kings Men and they aren’t always in character and I like to write them in they way I want them to heal.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Andrew was content. Never in his twenty eight years of living did he think he would ever feel contentment, but here he was. If you had told that boy in juvie that one day he would get here, he probably would have stabbed you. Multiple times in fact.</p><p>Lying in his and Neil’s bed in their apartment, Andrew couldn’t be happier. He was sitting against the headboard with a book in one hand and the other was stroking Sir, the hellcat kept lazily digging her claws into his thigh every few minutes. Neil was lying on his back, King sat on his chest, licking her paws with some kind of smug look while he cooed at her. Andrew would always tell Neil that she was spoiled and acted like she owned the place, but his partner, his husband, would just laugh whilst sneaking her more treats.</p><p>
  <em>Fuckers.</em>
</p><p>Deciding he’d had enough of all of Neil’s focus directed elsewhere, he closed his book and placed it on his bedside table before removing the two pesky lumps of fur from the bed. Neil looked as though he was going to protest until Andrew moved to lay tucked into his side, head on his shoulder, one leg thrown over his thigh and his left hand gently resting on his chest.</p><p>“Drew? Are you alright? You always like to read a few chapters every night, you’ve probably only read one.” Neil’s own hands had shifted now, one gently pushing through his blond hair and the other came up to fiddle with Andrew’s wedding band. Whenever he looked at it, he couldn’t help the small smile it brought to his lips, and the memories it provided him. He murmured his confirmation as he traced one particularly long scar with his fingertips, realising that he’d never really asked about them. Yes, he knew that some occurred from Lola, from Nathan, from Riko. But others, they were from his times on the road, and some could be stupid accidents other than hateful attacks right?</p><p>“Will you tell me about some of these?” He whispered it, trying to be gentle for the man he loved, something people didn’t think he’d ever be capable of. But Neil did, he always did. His husband shivered at his drifting fingers and Andrew smirked, knowing what Neil wanted and decided he’d make him wait for it.</p><p>“S-sure. You pick one and I’ll tell you al-all about it.” Neil’s words were jittery and he loved feeling so very smug at what he could do with just his hands. Andrew watched his own hand, wedding band glinting in the light, as he landed on what looked to be a zig zag scar just above the other man’s hip.</p><p>“What about this one?” Neil looked down to see where Andrew’s hand was and smiled lightly and he figured that maybe it was one of the few that could trigger happy memories.</p><p>“I fell out of a tree, a very big tree actually.”</p><p>Andrew just stared and stared into those bright blue eyes before tipping his head back and laughing. When he looked back, Neil’s face was one full of awe and love and happiness and it made Andrew’s chest hurt. “You, the all sneaky, fast and agile Neil Josten fell out of a fucking tree?”</p><p>Neil rolled his eyes and huffed at him but then his eyes fluttered closed when Andrew trailed his fingers along the waistband of Neil’s sweats. “That’s Minyard-Josten,” he corrected, “and yes I fell. We had stopped in Britain with Uncle Stuart a year after we ran. Mom only wanted to stay for a day or two and that was the safest place for us to do so. We were walking in the gardens and Stuart was trying to convince my mom to stay but that was where my father’s men would most likely start with when the idiots figured out that we’d left the US. When they started yelling I went over to one of the trees and started climbing to get away from them but a branch broke half way up.”</p><p>Neil sucked in a breath when Andrew started mouthing at the skin of his shoulder, bracing himself as he tapped at a new scar, this one stretched near his armpit to his collarbone. It was the one Andrew always paid the most attention to when they were being intimate, but he didn’t know why; he just liked Neil to know that they didn’t bother him, that he didn’t look at Neil any different because of them. “And what about this one here?”</p><p>“Erm well, that one was my own fault.”</p><p>“What did you do?”</p><p>“It was actually the day after I fell out of the tree. Stuart said that if we wouldn’t stay, then he wanted to show me a few defence moves and such. I tripped and sprawled across my knife. Uncle Stuart didn’t even get mad, just started telling stories about when he and mom were kids while he stitched me up.”</p><p>“You are so unbelievably stupid sometimes, it’s actually quite concerning.”</p><p>Neil giggled a little as he whispered, “Yeah, but you love me for it.”</p><p>Andrew just nodded as his hand drifted to the iron shaped scar and traced the edges lightly, moving down to the bullet hole and rubbing it with his thumb. When he tilted his head back to Neil, his eyes were still closed and his breathing had turned ragged. He thought that maybe he’d pushed too far, asked for too much but before he could think more on it, before he could ask, he was rolled onto his back and Neil propped himself above him. There was only a thin strip of blue left when their eyes met and Andrew bit his bottom lip, watching Neil track the movement. “You’re very distracting ‘Drew.”</p><p>Andrew’s hands trailed from Neil’s shoulders, over his chest, along his waist and hips, fingers dipping just into his waistband and then moving back up to settle against his ribs. He brought up first one leg and then the other, wrapping them around Neil’s hips and dragging him closer. It was weird to think that once upon a time he hated feeling trapped, being caged in but now he wouldn’t have it any other way. The red head gasped when they touched, thigh to thigh, hips to hips. “I like touching you, learning about you. It makes me happy. You make me happy, you know that right?”</p><p>Neil kept one hand next to Andrew’s head while he brought the other up to move back blond strands from his forehead, that would undoubtedly fall back instantly, and then moved to cup his cheek. “I know that. But your hands have started something that I’m not sure they were prepared to finish.”</p><p>Andrew raised one fair eyebrow and grabbed the back of Neil’s neck with one hand and pulled him down so that their noses were touching, breathing against his lips, “And what are you going to do about that Abram?”</p><p>He only managed one breath before Neil kissed him, lust, love and a whole lot of pent up energy fuelling it. Andrew laughed when he got over excited and kissed him sloppily, but it was still so utterly perfect. “We have all of the time in the world junkie, and I feel like being slow tonight.”</p><p>Funny thing time, it was just a concept really and they truly did have so much time to spend with each other. Learning, loving, laughing, and just being them. They could enjoy it all; do everything, because the boy who was prepared to die and the boy who hated life thought they’d never get this. But they fought for it, they bled for it. He’d be damned if he ever let this go.</p><p>Andrew Minyard-Josten was married to the love of his life, living in the apartment they owned with two pesky little furballs who ate too much.</p><p>
  <em>He was what you’d call the happiest man in the world.</em>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Andrew's turn to recieve some soft loving.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Andrew was nervous, but he didn’t know why exactly. He had no reason to be nervous so why the fuck was he so scared to open the bathroom door?</p>
<p>He was standing naked in the bathroom of his and Neil’s apartment, skin still warm to the touch and little drops of water slowly falling down his back. He’d rubbed away the steam from the mirror and was just staring at his reflection, bottom lip trapped between his teeth. Andrew had told Neil that there was something he’d wanted to try, and Neil had agreed, muttering a phrase that Andrew could no longer hate. <em>Always yes with you</em>. They’d never done anything like Andrew was now planning for them to do, he hadn’t been ready for it, so fucking worried he’d slip into his head, into the past and taint the image of Neil in that moment. And so he’d waited, aired his thoughts to Bee over Skype and did all of his mental checks, feeling good enough in himself to do this.</p>
<p>He glanced at himself in the mirror one more time, before heading for the door. He took a few controlled breaths as he reached for the door knob with shaky fingers. Andrew only opened it just wide enough for him to peer through. When he did, Andrew saw his favourite mop of copper curls, fingers twitching to run his hands through it. Neil was sitting propped against the headboard, naked except from his boxers at Andrew’s request. The blinds were left open, letting soft streams of moonlight in and they coloured the scars on Neil’s abdomen in a soft silver glow, highlighting them perfectly. The door had creaked open, catching Neil’s attention. The redhead turned his upper half; piercing blue eyes meeting his own hazel ones, and then the idiot smiled, small and soft, showing off the tiny dimple in his right cheek as his eyes crinkled in the corners. It made Andrew weak in the knees. “Hi ‘Drew.” Neil’s voice was only a whisper, but still strong enough to be heard in the distance between them.</p>
<p>“Hi junkie.” Andrew’s reply was quieter than he’d have liked it to be and Neil noticed, lifting his hand and reaching out towards Andrew. Steeling his nerves, he pulled the door open fully, quickly flicking off the bathroom light and walking over to stand in front of Neil. Open and bare to his partner. This wasn’t the first time Neil was seeing him naked, every inch of him exposed, but this time Andrew was going to allow him to touch.</p>
<p>Everywhere.</p>
<p>He took Neil’s proffered hand, interlacing their fingers together, still fascinated with the way his pale skin looked against Neil’s slightly darker skin. Carefully, he climbed onto the bed and straddled Neil, waiting for the other man to nod before settling his weight on Neil’s thighs. There was a satisfied hum from his partner, and those mesmerizing blues seemed to sparkle as Andrew stared down at him. “May I look?” Neil murmured as he reached up to push a few strands of hair from Andrew’s forehead, those same fingers trailing down to curve around his ear before dropping back into navy blue sheets. Andrew nodded, making the hair that had been moved away fall back into place, making Neil laugh gently.</p>
<p>“You can look, Abram.”</p>
<p>With the consent, Neil’s gaze travelled down his face, the corners of the idiot’s mouth twitching as he eyed Andrew’s neck and collar none. <em>Stupid fucking fetish</em>. His eyes darkened, blue disappearing a little more, when Neil looked at the softness of his tummy that Andrew had always had, that stuck out slightly when he was sitting down, much like now. Neil didn't linger too long though, soon following the trail of blonde hair, just a shade darker than on his head, down between his legs and along his thighs. Andrew tightened his hold on Neil’s hand as his eyes took the same path back, all the way up until they were staring at each other once more. “You’re so beautiful, Andrew.”</p>
<p>When he felt his cheeks and the tips of his ears heat up, Andrew knew he had started blushing. “I told you not to look at me like that.”</p>
<p>The redhead’s nose scrunched adorably. “Those words lost their meaning years ago.”</p>
<p>To shut the idiot up, Andrew leaned in to kiss him gently, slowly. His free hand wrapped around Neil’s neck, pulling him in closer and making their kisses firmer. After a few moments, Neil pulled back to breathe against Andrew’s kiss-swollen lips, “Where can I touch you?” The words sent shivers down his spine and goosebumps formed along his arms. This was what he’d been building up to, this was what he wanted, wanted to give this to Neil.</p>
<p>“Everywhere, junkie.” </p>
<p>The only signs of surprise from the other man were the way his eyes widened just a fraction. “You have to tell me if you change your mind, okay?”</p>
<p>“You know I will, just, just go slowly.” Neil pressed a chaste kiss to both of his pink cheeks and then one on his nose as he nodded.</p>
<p>“Of course.” </p>
<p>Scarred hands started in well known safe zones, places they knew were now a guaranteed ‘yes’ and only a ‘no’ when Andrew slipped into one of his really bad moods. Fingers carded through blonde locks, blunt nails scratching at his scalp. Andrew was a quiet man in bed, in any intimate moment really and so the only sounds that escaped his lips were soft gasps and gentle hums. Soon, those hands were at his shoulders, drifting down to trace the lines of his collar bones and then his pecs. A thumb swept across his nipple and Andrew bit his lip, watching as Neil’s eyes caught on the movement. He didn’t let him distract him for too long, quickly focusing onto Andrew’s tummy, a place Neil had always favoured. Andrew’s own hands were holding his partner’s waist and he squeezed tighter when Neil moved on to grip his hips. “Andrew? Is it still a yes?”</p>
<p>“Still yes. Keep going.” Neil still looked a little hesitant but he continued, lifting his palms away from Andrew’s heated skin so that just his fingertips dragged along the small of his back, moving downwards at a snail’s pace until he was lightly drawing patterns where no one had ever touched Andrew. At least, Neil was the first to be granted the permission. Andrew had never known how to <em>give</em> things to people, they were always just <em>take, take, take</em> without leaving him with a choice. And then Neil came along and flipped his life upside down. But fuck, Andrew wouldn’t change a goddamn thing. Shifting forwards, he pressed his forehead to Neil’s, staring at those pretty blues and sharing panted breaths. That was when it happened. Neil gripped his ass fully in both hands and squeezed, not hard, just held him gently and Andrew moaned whilst his back arched. He didn't know that this was a touch that could feel good, didn’t know why Neil reacted the way he did to it until now. </p>
<p>His partner gasped at the sound, repeating the motion and pulling more of them from Andrew’s throat. “Touch me.” He whimpered.</p>
<p>“‘Drew?”</p>
<p>“Neil, touch me. I need you to touch me properly.” Neil groaned and pulled him into a heated kiss, slightly messy with a clash of teeth and tongue but he didn’t care. He was feeling too much and needed too many things at once. Their positions were flipped soon after, the other man rolling Andrew onto his back with ease. They had time to take each other apart, time to explore with hands and mouths. Andrew felt Neil everywhere at once and he never wanted to part from him, never wanted to let him go, eager to touch, to feel, to hold.</p>
<p>He didn’t have to worry though because he could have that. They were married, totally and ridiculously in love with each other and by gods was it the best thing in the fucking world.</p>
<p>When they were both sleepy and sated, curled around one another with Andrew’s head tucked into Neil’s neck, his thoughts were full of blue eyes, tanned skin and scarred hands and four special words that hadn't left him since Neil had said them earlier in the night.</p>
<p>
  <em>You’re so beautiful, Andrew.</em>
</p>
<p>He was beautiful and he was loved and fuck did it feel fucking amazing.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Kudos and Comments appreciated! Let me know what you thought&lt;3</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I love the feedback you guys give me so feel free to do more of that. Follow me on tumblr @abraxos-is-toothless if you want to see things early, I always upload over there first!:)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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